Change4Life and Disney have teamed up to encourage children to meet the minimum 60 minutes of exercise they need every day.

Some of Disney's best loved characters, including Mickey Mouse and Olaf from Frozen, will be featuring alongside Change4Life animations in hopes of encouraging children to do a few extra 10 minute bursts of activity per day.

If you've got the grandchildren to stay, there are plenty of activity packs and games to download for a great way to keep them occupied and stimulated during the holidays - even if the weather is, err, less than scorching.

One of the activities that should keep the little ones busy is a 10 minute dance tutorial created by TV dance judge and choreographer Lizzie Gough, available on the Change4Life YouTube channel. There are prizes to be won for the best dance videos, but you'll need to be quick because the closing date for entries is 15 August! Details here.

We spoke to Dr Ann Hoskins from Public Health England, and Marianthi O’Dwyer, Vice President, Head of Living Well at The Walt Disney Company, about the campaign and how they hope to make a difference with it.

Our chat with Dr Hoskins (PHE)

Q. GN: What is it about today's society that means families need so much extra inspiration to keep fit and healthy?

A. Dr Ann Hoskins: Our environment currently makes it too easy to be unhealthy. Some urban environments can encourage sedentary lifestyles, which, alongside eating foods that are high in salt, saturated fat, sugar and calories can lead to being overweight or obese (among other health problems).

PHE is working to help local authorities tackle the environmental and behavioural causes of low levels of physical activity and unhealthy eating habits. PHE have, for example, produced a briefing on encouraging physical activity and active travel. The briefing provides local authorities with ideas for action on how to reduce the adverse effects of the built environment on peoples’ health. PHE is also producing a series of briefings on active play and why this is important in establishing healthy lifestyles.

Q. GN: What is one of the most worrying symptoms of physical inactivity in children that you tend to see?

A. Dr Ann Hoskins: Physical inactivity in children can lead to them becoming overweight or obese which significantly increases their risk of developing heart disease, breast and colon cancers and type 2 diabetes later in life. Leading a healthy lifestyle which includes eating a diet that is lower in fat, sugar and salt and being physically active for more than 150 minutes a week for adults and at least 60 minutes a day for children is proven to reduce the risk of these serious diseases. It’s also important for babies and young children to develop physical literacy – co-ordination, mobility and body confidence for their overall health.

Q. GN: Where do you think grandparents can be most useful in ensuring that grandchildren get the recommended amount of exercise?*

A. Dr Ann Hoskins: This summer our Change4Life campaign will help families keep their children active through ideas about how they can get going every day. Children need to be doing an extra 60 minutes or more of physical exercise every day to get the heart pumping and for them to get more active. If children only did an extra 10-minute burst of activity every day, this would help children reach the recommended amount of exercise. Grandparents can help get their grandchildren moving by taking part in fun activities this summer holiday, like swimming, rowing, playing catch at the seaside, and dancing. The new Change4Life and Disney campaign has lots of fun activity ideas for children this summer. If you sign up for the campaign online, you will receive a free family activity pack, with 28 activity cards, stopwatch and a Disney-themed wall chart and stickers; a great way to add some Disney magic to your summer holidays.

Q. GN: What does five (or seven) a day actually mean for a child? It can't be the same as the adults recommended portion sizes, can it?

A. Dr Ann Hoskins: For most young children, the five a day advice applies after the age of five. Between the ages of two and five a gradual increase towards five portions is advised. By the time a child is two years old it is important that a variety of foods, including fruit and vegetables are introduced, to help them get used to different tastes. Fruit and vegetables are a good source of vitamins and some minerals, and, like adults, children should be encouraged to eat a variety of different types. A portion is generally taken, for example, to be a slice of a whole piece of a larger fruit such as a melon, a whole piece of fruit such as an apple or a banana, a couple of small pieces of fruit such as tangerines, three tablespoons of vegetables, a bowl of mixed salad, a 150 ml glass of fruit juice and a handful of dried fruit (30g).

A portion is taken in the UK to mean 80g of fresh equivalent of fruit or vegetables. This is based on epidemiological evidence demonstrating reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers when consuming more than 400g per day.

Q. GN: Do you think sugar is something we should really worry about - or is it just hysteria and we've always eaten too much sugar?

A. Dr Ann Hoskins: Eating too much sugar means eating too many calories which can lead to being overweight or obese. This significantly increases your risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers, and can also lead to tooth decay. As a population we are eating too much sugar, but we are also eating too much saturated fat and salt and not enough fruit, vegetables, fibre and omega-3 fatty acids. To live healthier, longer lives we need to eat a balanced diet and be more active.

Q. GN: There are a lot of mixed messages when it comes to educating children about healthy eating and weight ('big is beautiful', be comfortable with your size, be skinny for the magazines etc) - how should parents/grandparents approach obesity? Should we be demonising those who are too thin/overweight?

A. Dr Ann Hoskins: We should be encouraging everyone to lead a healthy lifestyle which will maintain a healthy weight. This includes eating a balanced diet and being more active to maintain a healthy weight and improve our heart health.

Q. GN: How would you encourage children to exercise or walk more - especially when so many parents drive everywhere?

A. Dr Ann Hoskins: Change4Life encourages everyone in England to ‘eat well, move more, live longer’.

The campaign aims to provide children and families with everything they need to have an active and fun summer. By helping children to do a few extra bursts of daily activity, Change4Life and Disney aim to get the country moving for an additional 100 million minutes over the summer.

The recommended levels of activity can be achieved either by doing all the daily activity in one session, or through several shorter bursts of activity of 10 minutes or more. Evidence clearly demonstrates the benefits of 10 minutes or more moderate to vigorous activity. This duration performed several times a day is sufficient to improve fitness and health overall.

The free 10 minute shake up pack contents include a stopwatch for timing 10 minutes of activity, a wall chart and stickers for monitoring activity, Disney character activity cards, personalised emails and SMS support, as well as access to an online portal, ‘the shake up zone’, full of fun games and activity suggestions for kids to play.

Our chat with Marianthi O'Dwyer (Disney)

Q. GN: What was Disney's motivation for getting involved with the campaign?

A. Marianthi O'Dwyer: We have conducted research and listened to thousands of parents across the country with a view to understanding the healthy lifestyle goals they have for their family and how we can help. Our findings show that over three quarters of mums think being active and physically fit should be fun and nine out of ten mums said that a Disney healthy living programme would help their families.

Q. GN: Do you think the inclusion of Disney characters in the 10 minute shake up games will inspire kids to get moving more?

A. Marianthi O'Dwyer: At its heart, the Disney brand is all about storytelling and creativity, and the 10 minute shake up campaign with Change4Life puts these qualities right front and centre using some of our most popular characters from film and TV to encourage children to do an extra 10 minutes of activity per day.

Using a huge range of popular Disney characters and stories, the aim is to provide families with a wealth of fun and simple-to-follow 10-minute activities, to really get hearts pumping.

Q. GN: How much responsibility do you think Disney holds in getting kids away from the telly and outdoors exercising?

A. Marianthi O'Dwyer: Disney’s brand is so well-known; we know it has the ability to impact people incredibly strongly, so we take this responsibility very seriously. Our Chairman and Chief Executive of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger, has pledged the company’s commitment to using the unique relationship that children have to Disney characters in a positive way, to help families lead healthier lives.

Disney’s vision is to inspire families to flourish, by encouraging life-long healthy behaviours, through story telling, imagination, fun and play.

Q. GN: Do you think food and healthy eating could be better represented on television shows? (ie there is so much emphasis on chocolate/junk foods as prized items - why can't the reward be something a child doesn't have often - exotic fruits etc)?

A. Marianthi O'Dwyer: We think about this across our Company -- in the TV shows we create, to the live events we put on, to education campaigns we sponsor.

Following the creation of our landmark nutrition guidelines in 2006, which outline how we associate our brands and characters with nutritionally-balanced foods; to our promotional guidelines and our unique content and experiences we believe Disney can inspire kids in simple ways to be their healthy best!

As a parent this is a welcome place for Disney. We don’t need Disney’s characters or brands to get kids to eat junk food but healthy meals…buying a bag of bananas with Mickey on it and stickers can have such an amazing impact.

Q. GN: Do you think advertising has a large part to play in educating children (and parents/grandparents) in terms of healthy eating and exercise?

A. Marianthi O'Dwyer: Millions of kids and families tune into our channels, visit our websites and read our magazines, and we are supporting the Change4Life campaign by creating Disney specific games and messages that we can communicate to kids through our extensive media network.

By leveraging Disney’s unique relationship with parents and children across the country, we hope to be able to get more families engaging with Change4Life and getting more active than ever before.

Q. GN: How would you encourage children to exercise or walk more - especially when so many parents drive everywhere?

A. Marianthi O'Dwyer: The Change4Life 10 minute shake up campaign brings a little Disney magic to children and their families through activity packs, which will help more of them reach the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day, with fun, manageable bursts of exercise.

To sign up for a free pack, simply register online!

Get involved
- send off for an activity pack to get your grandchildren moving
share on Twitter, Facebook and email
- enter the dance competition (closes 15 August)
- share this on social media and with friends and other parents